Education Secretary visits UNI

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said during an appearance at the University of Northern Iowa Friday that the country is in "a perfect storm for reform" of education. Duncan challenged educators to look in the mirror at how they behave and how they relate to the classroom.

"Our school have to become community centers, open not five days a week six hours a day, nine months a year, but six, seven days a week, thirteen, fourteen hours a day, twelve to thirteen months a year with a variety of after school programs," Duncan says.

He says those programs like drama, chess, sports and debate. Duncan says Iowa’s share of the economic stimulus bill is 411-million dollars, and he had some suggestions for how to use it.

"We can bring technology into the classroom, and train teachers to use it more effectively, we can modernize science labs and other key facilities critical to producing a new generation of scientists and mathematicians," Duncan says.

He says we can train teams of teachers to use real time assessments instead of looking at how kids did on a quiz last spring. Duncan is traveling around the country gathering input prior to Congressional debate on whether the "No Child Left Behind" legislation should be renewed.